Edinburgh #travelthursdays

Edinburgh holds a special place in my heart. It’s funky, uncompromising, unexpected and friendly. It’s also the place that hubby and I first travelled together. Not the world’s most challenging trip – straight up on the train from London – but in some ways it was.

It’s perfect for a long weekend/city break. We hired somewhere central and cheerful to stay and basically wandered the city, going wherever the fancy took us.

Warning: these photos are a little old, and a bit grim, but hold a special if freezing cold place in my travel book. We live, we learn!

We couldn’t miss the hair-raising, and beautiful views from the top of Edinburgh Castle. We went in October/November, and unluckily the weekend that we went it was freezing. Fah-reezing. It also meant that we didn’t get to enjoy the full view expanse of the view, but it’s still a beautiful city.

We took a good long wander around Holyrood Palace, and it was the first place (in my limited travelling) where you really felt a part of the history. Wandering through Mary, Queen of Scots bedroom (and over her ‘blood’ which I still think is the result of an over-enthusiastic guide but it’s never been proven) it really gives you a sense of this woman who has such an impact on history.

The exceedingly modernist Scottish Parliament is directly across from Holyrood Palace, a dichotomous statement. It’s a really beautiful building & well worth a wander around.

Our favourite thing to visit? The Forth Rail bridge, mostly because we’re nerds, additionally because it’s internationally famous. Cool fact; the bridge was known as ‘the bridge with neverending painting’ because as soon as they finished, they’d have to start again. In 2011 a paint was developed that would last 25 years much to our disappointment.

The world-famous Forth Rail bridge…

… and the graceful Forth Rail Bridge.

We enjoyed all of the local delicacies; neeps and tatties, black pudding for breakfast and tried Irn-bru (not for me I’m afraid) but chickened out on the heart attack on a serviette that is a deep-fried Mars Bar.

Too ashamed to do this in public in London, I Ninja’d in this country phone box.

On the flipside though, if you do try the deep fried Mars Bar, you can slough off the calories walking up the crazily steep street inclines. We did one uber-touristy thing (preferring just to laugh at the drunken idiots wearing tam o’shanters and kilts lurching with their drunken Aussie accents antics) which was visit Mary Kings Close, a set of rooms and streets preserved in their 17th Century condition. We didn’t see any ghosts, but it was pretty darn interesting.

We’ve been back to Edinburgh several times and keep discovering more; sunshine, rain, hail and snow and I don’t mind telling you that we missed out on Hogmanay one year because I was too chicken (after recently breaking my wrist) to slip-slide on the busy snowy streets. We love it.

15th Century Rosslyn Chapel is breath taking, and worth at least half a day’s visit, in my humble opinion. If you like churches/the da vinci code/craftsmanship/conspiracy theories and has quite a good pub nearby. Ps. the photos is borrowed from Visit Scotland as my camera was rubbish.

My top tips for Edinburgh?

Take layers & a jacket for warmth

If you want to see the Forth Bridge and don’t have a car, you don’t have to go on a guided tour, just jump on the bus & ask the bus driver where to walk. You walk down a hillside, begin to wonder what the heck you’ve got yourself into, and then boom, there it is. There (at our time of visiting) is also a cute little pub nearby.

There are great free museums.

Try a deep fried Mars Bar, and let me know what you think of it.

Rosslyn Chapel is a must, again if you don’t have a car there is a bus from the city centre, and it doesn’t take too long.

Haymarket Station is about a 15 minutes wait and 5 minutes journey from Waverly Station on the train.

Take layers & a jacket for warmth.

If you’re sick because you caught a cold as you didn’t take enough layers, it’s ok to eat Dominos in your hotel room.

Kia ora, welcome, welcome!

This my travel blog featuring as many Adventures as a London (based) Kiwi that I can fit in with a side of uniqueness. I’ve always wanted to live life to the full, explore as many corners of the globe as possible, nibble as many different delectations, experience history and seek out the special things in life. Consider yourself warned about me...